Hamas and The Order of Assassin's Creed-o

It has now been just over a month since Hamas’s brutal October attack which claimed the lives of an estimated 1,400 Israelis and sparked a new and bloody war between Israel and Gaza. According to the AP, a new death toll sits at around 10,000 people, and it does not seem as if an end is in sight anytime soon. 

But Hamas is far from the first group to wreak havoc around the Middle East, and though the area has seen conflict ravage its sands for thousands of years, there is one particularly interesting historical precedent: the Order of Assassins.

A Name (Almost) Out Of Fiction

The catalyst for the Order can be traced back to the earliest days of Islam. In 632, the Prophet Mohammed died without naming a successor.  After intense debate, Abu Bakr, a revered early follower, was elected as the Prophet's successor, effectively establishing the Caliphate. His supporters, who later came to be known as Sunnis, drew their name from the “Sunna,” meaning “tradition.” But Abu Bakr went on to live just two years after his ascendency, reopening the succession debate. Even during Abu Bakr’s reign, some believed Ali, Mohammad's son-in-law, should have been named leader, and this sentiment birthed the Shia faction. Initially a political movement, the Shia's ideological stance solidified as they witnessed the Islamic Empire's expansion and subsequent wealth, which they felt diluted the faith's essence. The decisive split from Sunni Islam occurred after Husain, Ali's son, defied the Umayyad Caliphate, cementing the Shia identity as guardians of the faith's purity. 

Over time, the Shia community fragmented over disputes about the rightful imam descendant of Ali. In the 8th century, a group called the Ismailis broke away to follow Ismail bin Jafar, the seventh imam by their count, who was not recognized by the majority of Shiites. These Ismailis, a sect within a sect, criticized the opulence of the Sunni caliphs and practiced a theologically complex and intense faith. Labeled heretics by both Sunnis and the larger Twelver Shia group, the Ismailis operated in secrecy, with da'is covertly propagating their beliefs.

The founder of the Assassins, Hasan-i Sabbah, was a member of the Ismailis, and started his sect out of this religious fervor, collecting those with a similar zeal. Count Henry of Champagne noted this intense loyalty when he thought he would charge the Order a tribute to keep the peace. Rashid ad-Din Sinan, the leader of the sect, refused, saying that though the Order had far fewer bodies, his army was stronger because of its unquestioning obedience.

To illustrate this, he allegedly signaled for a warrior stationed high on the wall to jump. After announcing “God is Great,” he jumped, effectively committing suicide. Sinan then did this to a second fighter, who did the exact same thing. Count Henry was so shocked that he decided not to pursue a tribute.

The Order of Assassins was known for targeting known and powerful individuals, and one of their most infamous assassinations was that of Conrad of Montferrat. Conrad was a powerful lord from Northern Italy who had risen to become King of Jerusalem before leaving with the rest of the Third Crusade’s leaders. In April 1192, he was stabbed by two members of the Order who had passed themselves off as monks. His killing both dashed any hopes for a Christian resurgence in the Holy Land and thrust the Assassins into the spotlight of the Western world. In fact, the term "assassin" in the English language as a synonym for a murderer originated from the Order.

The Assassins followed a pattern with their terror tactics with specific traits that can be summarized as fanaticism, spectacle, and cruelty. 

First is that Hasan imbued his followers with a potent ideology that guaranteed a flow of warriors, young men handpicked for audacity, skill, and – most importantly – a staunch readiness to die following orders. 

Second is that these warriors sought high visibility for their assassinations, targeting victims during crowded events like Friday prayers to ensure a broad audience to violence, cementing the notion that those targeted by the Assassins faced inescapable death, regardless of their security. They were conscious of their reputations, to the point that crusaders would tell tales of the sect on their return home.

Third, the method of killing itself was a crucial element of the terror they sowed; the fida’is consciously avoided impersonal means such as poison or arrows. Their favored weapon was the dagger, a weapon that demanded proximity, allegedly to witness the agony in their victim’s gaze and create a personal and horrifying spectacle.

The End of the Order

What brought about the end of the Assassins is what ended many other groups in Asia and the Middle East: the Mongols. Originally, the Order entered into a loose alliance with Genghis Khan. However, by the early 1250s, the Mongol rulers in Karakorum had become well-acquainted with the ominous fame of the Order of Assassins, as relayed by their Sunni adversaries. Deeming the sect a threat to their dominion, the Mongol leadership resolved to extinguish it. Thus, in October 1253, Möngke Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, dispatched his sibling Hülegü with a formidable force to Persia with the express mission to decisively dismantle the Assassin order.

Alamut, the stronghold of the Order, was seized in 1256, and the last Grand Master of the Assassins at Alamut, Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah, was executed shortly thereafter. Although Alamut was briefly recaptured by the Assassins in 1275, their political power was ultimately extinguished.

Hamas Today

Though Hamas certainly does not have the skill or, in all likelihood, the longevity of the Order of Assassins, it is interesting that these two groups, who terrorized almost the same territory nearly 1,000 years apart, likewise follows the three major tactics that defined the Order: fanaticism, spectacle, and cruelty.

Though Hamas leaders themselves courageously watch the violence unfold from their luxury villas in Oman, they have cultivated, thanks to a stronghold on the media and education system, a large number of Palestinian youths who are ready to die in order to eradicate Israel and other enemies of Islam. As chillingly printed by Al Jazeera¹:

“The teenagers did not hesitate when asked what they aspired to be when they grew up. ‘Martyrs,’ they said in unison, referring to the term used by Palestinians to describe anyone killed by Israelis.”

Secondly, Hamas has taken the horrific spectacle of war and taken it to a new level. Videos of barbaric atrocities such as a man, still living, being beheaded by a garden hoe are filmed by the Hamas terrorists themselves and then uploaded onto the internet to galvanize the most bloodthirsty dregs of humanity. At the same time, they produce fake but sympathetic content for the Western world, such as reportedly using dummies as bomb victims² or AI generated images to garner support.³

Third is that their method of killing was nothing less than barbaric. In the October 7th killings, they did not just shoot their victims. They tortured and desecrated pregnant women, children, and even babies in crimes that are so vicious they are difficult to both write about and imagine.

These tactics enabled Hamas to inflict what President Biden called “Israel’s 9/11,” despite the terrorist’s group inferiority in terms of both military intelligence and skill – just like the Assassins did. Moreover, though Hamas inflicted mass casualties indiscriminately instead of individuals chosen with care, the motivating factor was a religious fervor.  Though Hamas is not dispersed in various strongholds across the region, their reliance on underground tunnels gives the terrorist group the same scattered feel.

Lastly, the Order of Assassins was disliked by both Sunni and Shia Muslims on religious grounds; similarly, Hamas has found itself with few allies — including Egypt, a nation on its southern border — because of its radical beliefs.

The Israeli Defense Forces have vowed to eradicate Hamas, and it remains to be seen if the Jewish nation will be able to fulfill this promise, in light of mounting international pressure to agree to a ceasefire. However, an interesting proposition would also be if Iran turns on Hamas, just as the Mongols turned on the Assassins. Though Iran is currently a major benefactor of Hamas, the idea may not be totally preposterous. Iran has openly stated that it does not want the conflict to spread. If it does, Iran may realize that it has bitten off more than it can chew and reevaluate its partnership with the Gaza terrorist group.

1. It should be noted that the Palestinians interviewed were in the West Bank and not Gaza; it was added because the sentiment is universal. If anything, citizens of the West Bank are considered less zealous than their Gaza counterparts. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/14/why-do-some-palestinian-teens-in-jenin-dream-of-martyrdom

2. https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/israeli-government-claims-hamas-posted-video-of-doll-being-disguised-as-child-killed-by-idf-israeli-defense-forces-invasion-gaza-city-terrorism-hospital-toy-child-war-benjamin-netanyahu-hezbollah-iran

3. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-hamas-war-viral-image-094832419.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2lyZWQuY29tL3N0b3J5L2lzcmFlbC1oYW1hcy13YXItZ2VuZXJhdGl2ZS1hcnRpZmljaWFsLWludGVsbGlnZW5jZS1kaXNpbmZvcm1hdGlvbi8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMeUVGJSN2YvbAANepC9PDxYY3LjcEPYzwxxS6A6Wy6ndZEF8nf8QtYPHU_opYjBAFDYEFPy1VhABRYP2NPfjf0ajDmSON45x18SB-8Yt83T81TkZJ1jduAWTRGIDTE23FBw7NiYTjJoNhDTM5NpvPOsjjKA0XMY4VLTzxDZoFho